A quick, not all-inclusive preview of what looks to be a gonzo weekend in Seattle. We’ve got visiting Chicago legends, Burning Man all-stars, queer west coast bitch house & techno upstarts at leather bars, pop stars turned DJs, parties in warehouses and on train cars…and that doesn’t even include the big downtown venues or most of our fabulously talented local resident DJ nights, or Flammable’s guest whom I don’t even know yet. Really Seattle? What are you trying to do to me? Really?

Chicago will be all up in Seattle, with visiting Windy City royalty Green Velvet/Cajmere and DJ Diz. If you don’t know already Green Velvet aka Cajmere, well, I don’t have space to catch you up here. But it’s likely that you’ve heard some of his various productions like “Answering Machine,” “Flash,” “Brighter Days,” “La La Land,” “U Got Me Up,” or “Percolator” if you’ve been dancing to house music in a club, um, ever. His record labels Cajual and Relief are a who’s who catalog of the second wave of Chicago House Music, and staple of house DJs pretty much everywhere. The FLASH Q crew, Recess (Shameless) and Nordic Soul (Decibel), welcome him to Q Capitol Hill this Friday night: https://www.facebook.com/events/600153443346255/

DJ Diz is another big name from Chicago, holding residencies at Shelter and Red Dog during the city’s second renaissance of house music in the mid-90s. His work with Green Velvet’s Cajual Records led him to meet his production partner, Joshua Iz of San Francisco, with whom he created a catalog of respected deep house tracks. He’ll be performing at the fabulous Erin O’Connor’s and Patrick Hernandez’s ever expanding Train Car House Party down in the SoDo district this Saturday night for TCHP’s one-year anniversary. I hear there will be an additional slow-burn car with the lovely Casewag and Futurewife of Freq Note & PYT: https://www.facebook.com/events/279594035504182/

San Francisco’s Atish is an up & coming deep house/deep techno DJ, and protege of established deep tech icon Lee Burridge. His gorgeous recent sets at Robot Heart at Burning Man and touring the world with Burridge are establishing him as a new player on the bigger stage. (He’s only been DJing since 2010 so I’m thinking I need to step up my game!) He’ll be joining Flammable’s Brian Lyons, Wesley Holmes and Karl Kamakahi at Electric Tea Garden on Friday night: https://www.facebook.com/events/342786439174355/. Here’s a set from Robot Heart, everyone’s favorite deep techno sound bus at Burning Man, in 2012. I actually think I was there that night!

San Francisco is also loaning us the adorable and talented “Two Dudes In Love” aka Mathew Dos Santos and David Sternesky, who did the recent Bottom Forty podcast episode. As mentioned elsewhere, they’ll be playing with Bottom Forty’s own Nark and Recess of the Shameless/FLASH crew at the Seattle Eagle Saturday night: https://www.facebook.com/events/544771418896672/. (My little brother & troublemaker the bucket aka Scott Britt has ALSO deemed this event his official bachelor party as he and Randy Henson are getting married Monday. 😉 ) And here’s some new production they released literally this Tuesday which is, by the way, a free download, girl.

Saturday night, my girls Almond Brown and DJ Trouble (aka Terry Hecker, whom you might also know as Dan Savage’s hubby) welcome Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters to Q, as Rapture collaborates with Trouble Disco. I haven’t heard Jake’s DJ sets and can’t vouch for them–he’s principally a singer–but have heard tell of both dirty techno and dirty dress-up. Lotsa pubes, armpit and ass in those promo photos. File under “she’s cute and sings well but we’ll see how she DJs:” https://www.facebook.com/events/502147966516318/

Also heard tell of a 18+ Rites of Spring warehouse party from Saturday night 9pm to 9am with a host of Seattle all-stars, including Starborne’s Michael Manahan, Rob Noble and Weaver, Passage’s Jaymz Nylon and Joey Webb, live vibraphonist Mystic Vibes, recent transplant & producer Luke Mandala and many others. With that lineup, expect to hear techno, drum&bass, house, and bass music all in one evening. You know, like we used to do it. Rave, on: https://www.facebook.com/events/149249911908622/